UBS GWM Head of Americas Equities David Lefkowitz weighs in on the markets.
U.S. equity futures ticked lower following Wednesday’s huge rally for stocks.
The major futures indexes suggest a decline of 0.4% when the opening bell rings on Wall Street.
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U.S. stocks soared on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a half a point for the first time in two decades and as Chairman Jerome Powell signaled the economy can avoid a recession.
The Fed raised its key rate to a range of 0.75% to 1%, the highest point since the coronavirus pandemic struck two years ago.
FED’S POWELL CALMS RECESSION JITTERS WITH REBUFF OF LARGER RATE HIKE
Powell’s comments appeared to be aimed at easing fears the Fed, which was accused of reacting too slowly as inflation surged last year, might be headed for an unusually large rate hike of three-quarters of a percentage point at its June meeting.
Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
On Thursday’s economic docket are reports on the labor market and productivity.
The Labor Department is out with its count of new claims for unemployment benefits for last week. Expectations are for 182,000, up slightly from 180,000 the previous week, and holding at pre-pandemic levels. Continuing claims, which track the total number of unemployed workers collecting benefits, are anticipated to decline to 1.400 million, the lowest in more than 52 years.
US COMPANIES ADDED 247,000 JOBS IN APRIL, SHARPLY MISSING EXPECTATIONS: ADP
The monthly jobs report due on Friday is expected to say the U.S. economy added 394,000 new nonfarm jobs in April.
Traders at the NYSE. (Courtney Crow/New York Stock Exchange via AP) (Courtney Crow/New York Stock Exchange via AP / AP Images)
At the same time, we’ll get the preliminary report on 1Q productivity and labor costs. Economists surveyed by Refinitiv anticipate that worker productivity fell at a 5.4% seasonally adjusted annual rate last quarter, reversing an increase of 6.6% fourth quarter. Unit labor costs are expected to increase at a 9.9% annual rate in the first quarter. That’s well above the 0.9% pace in the fourth quarter.
RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES
Oil prices were choppy Thursday morning after a European Union proposal for new sanctions against Russia included an embargo on crude in six months.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 15 cents to $107.63 a barrel.
Brent futures climbed 42 cents to $110.56 a barrel.
Bitcoin traded around $39,000.
In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.4% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.7%. Markets in Japan were closed for holidays.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 34061.06 | +932.27 | +2.81% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 4300.17 | +124.69 | +2.99% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 12964.855836 | +401.10 | +3.19% |
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index climbed 3% on Wednesday for its best day in two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.8% to 34,061.06. The Nasdaq composite climbed 3.2% to 12,964.86.
Ebay shares were 6% lower in premarket trading after the company lowered financial projections for the year as it swung to a quarterly loss.
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Thursday’s earnings reports include, Cardinal Health, ConocoPhillips, Kellogg, Wayfair, and Royal Caribbean Cruises in the morning.
News Corporation, Zillow Group, and iHeartMedia are on tap after the bell.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
